Farewell, Amanda

I know. I can't believe it either. Right now, Amanda is on her way back to the United States. Crazy.

But, in between the last post and this morning, we accomplished quite a bit! Here is a short summary.

We went to Parma.

It was a cute little town.

It had gelato. So we of course took advantage of that. You know, it's not like gelato is easy to find in Italy...

Cool clock tower.

It was also just absolutely beautiful out. Probably the best weather we had.

You can't really tell from this picture, but there is a sundial on this building.

And this is a horrible picture, but I was really excited to see Prosciutto di Parma hanging in all of the restaurants!

Tiny beer! I swear I'm not drunk in this photo.

Antipasto: prosciutto di Parma and parmigiano. Could life get any better?

(Answer: no.)

My pizza: prosciutto cotto, parmigiano, and an egg! I love eggs on my pizza and this was the first time I saw it available in Italy!

I bought a block of parmigiano because, well, I was in Parma. I had a whole conversation with the young man who worked at the store. Before I bought it, I asked if this parmigiano was good to eat plain or with bread, etc. Well. It was as if I had uttered the most blasphemous comment known to man.

Dude in store: "Con pane???" *insert utterly confused face*

I just stood there and nodded while my face turned bright red.

Then he said: "Oh, anch'io." ("Me too.")

Well, sir, if you're going to taunt me, at least don't admit to committing the same act yourself.

I'll give him a break though. He was very cute.

The next day was super rainy and our time in Reggio-Emilia was generally unsuccessful because we basically just sat in a cafe the whole time. Not that cafe sitting isn't awesome. It's just not great for photo-taking.

When we got back, we went to Cafe Concerto to dry off for a few hours.

Mmmmmmmm aperitivo.

Amanda got a Cosmopolitan.

I got a Long Island Iced Tea. It was absolutely disgusting.

Friday, we went to Florence!

Adorable pony.

Ponte Vecchio!

Cat on a leash. Our favorite part of Florence.

My favorite site in Florence--the church on a hill.

I don't have any pictures, but Ana showed us around later in the day. Thanks Ana!

Saturday we headed over to Bologna. The flowers behind Amanda were purple so I had to take a picture.

These are the tops of the tents of the massive flea market in Bologna. I got myself a 3-euro sweater.

When we got to the center of town, we saw this guy and his show. He was pretty great.

His dog was even better.

That is one talented chin.

This morning I met Amanda at the bus station to say a final goodbye.

I was sad to see Amanda go. I will see her in four months...

-Meri

Florence!

On Saturday around 5pm I decided that I wanted to go to Florence the next day and totally bombard my friend, Ana.

Being the awesome friend that she is, she welcomed me to Florence with open arms.

And so did her plant, Bernini.

What a cutie. (Not me, the plant.)

One of the first places we visited was the Duomo.

Holy mother of God.

It might be the most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Ana kept laughing at the number of times I said "wow," and other various exclamations.

This is the clock tower. Also awesome.

Some cool statues.

A pony! Not a very happy looking one, but a pony nonetheless.

There were so many cafes and bakeries that had chocolates in the window for Easter.

Ponte Vecchio!

One of the coolest things we did was walk up this giant hill to get to a church.

On the way, there were little areas to stop and look the sights.

That book the wooden statue is reading is very interesting.

Ana was less interested in the literature.

Some of the views from halfway up the hill.

Countryside.

We made it to the church on the top!

The graveyard.

On the way down we stopped at the garden.

Then we headed back to Ana's adorable apartment to make some egg and salami sandwiches (after accidentally spending 11 euros on coffee and a croissant).

Ana's unsuspecting roommate is marveling at the mortar and pestle while Ana munches on a late lunch.

Before I headed back to the train, we did a little more sightseeing. Ana thinks this sculpture thing is a representation of Caesar.

This is a fortress. It looked super creepy in the coming storm. I actually hadn't heard thunder since coming here, so I was actually pleasantly surprised by the lightning storm.

So Florence was fabulous. Definitely vying for the top spot on my favorite cities in Italy. I shall return.

-Meri